Remembering The Year That Never Was
by Aviv b
Summary: Four related stories about what happened during and after TYTNW.
1. Snow Blindness

**Originally posted at ****torchwood_fest**** BINGO/PROMPT/EXCHANGE**: Bingo Prompt -** Foot Rub**  
**CONTAINS**: Character death

**SUMMARY: My take on what happened to the team in the Himalayas. First of four related stories about the Team during TYTNW.**

* * *

They were trapped in a cave in the Himalayans. A blizzard raged outside as it had for the last week.

Gwen had been the first to die. The rest of the team saw that she was getting weaker, but they couldn't just abandon her. She had been the strongest during their ordeal until she fell through the ice. She chilled and they couldn't risk a fire out in the open to warm her up. Tosh and Owen stayed with her while Ianto went in search of shelter. He returned hours later having located a small cave.

They shivered in the cave for several days while Gwen got sicker. Pneumonia, Owen guessed, but it really didn't matter, their meager rations were barely enough to sustain them and they had nothing to give Gwen, even to ease her pain. The pack she lost on her plunge contained all the medical supplies.

The rest of the team slept fitfully while Gwen wheezed and groaned in her sleeping bag. They had dressed her in the few extra clothes they had and put her closest to the sputtering fire they had managed to build. Ianto melted ice and fed her warm cups of tea that seemed to make her feel a bit better. The others drank warm water so Gwen could have their share of the dried leaves.

The third night in the cave, Gwen cried that she was cold and began to talk to Rhys.

"I'm so sorry love, I should have never had that affair with Owen, he's a right tosser. Didn't even think to split the medical supplies, just shoved them into my pack. Good thing it wasn't Ianto that fell , he's carrying most of the food."

Tosh turned her face into Ianto's parka and cried.

"I'm so cold Rhys, my feet are so cold. Can you rub a little warmth into them?"

Owen bit his lower lip to keep from weeping. He ordered Tosh and Ianto to get into one sleeping bag together to keep warm as he began to unzip Gwen's bag.

"What are you doing," Tosh asked in surprise. "She'll freeze to death…"

Owen looked up from his patient to her. "Doesn't matter now, might as well let her go happy."

Owen took his gloves off, pulled Gwen's socks off and began to rub Gwen's feet. They were ice cold and the skin was shiny white. Frostbite. It was a mercy that her respiratory system was shutting down; she'd never survive amputation, even if he'd had the equipment to perform surgery.

Gwen continued to talk to Rhys, and Owen took on the role telling her how much he loved her and how he would make her lasagna when they got back home and maybe they'd even have a baby. Tosh and Ianto sobbed quietly in their sleeping bag. Owen gave her the last of the tea that Ianto had made and she finally went to sleep.

The next morning the storm had ended and Gwen was gone. They left her in the cave, as burial was impossible. The three remaining teammates pushed on. A week later, Owen began to act strangely. He wanted to turn back, insisted they turn back even when Tosh pointed out that they didn't have enough supplies to survive a return trip. Their only hope was to push on until they reached their goal. Rescue would be waiting for them, she was sure of it.

Three more days and Owen was raving, blaming Jack, blaming Gwen, cursing Ianto. He told Tosh that he loved her (that's when she knew he was totally deranged). They set up a tent for the night and Ianto melted snow and Tosh made a soup from some dried lentils.

"Christ, I'm cold," Owen snarled.

Ianto rooted through his pack. "Only enough tea for one," he said sadly, pulling out a bag with a tiny bit of leaves in it. He looked at Tosh who nodded.

"Here, Owen, we'll make you tea." Owen fussed a bit when she gave him the only cup, but finally drank it down.

"My feet are freezing, but the rest of me feels better." Tosh offered to rub his feet and after looking at her like she was the one who was losing her mind, Owen said, "Why not." She rubbed his feet until the circulation returned and as Ianto was already asleep, she crawled into the sleeping bag with Owen.

The next morning Owen was gone. He'd left a note: _"Have to find Gwen. Don't expect me back. Sorry about fucking up so badly."_

Tosh and Ianto packed up the remaining supplies and headed onward. They didn't really believe they could complete their mission, but staying at the spot where they lost their second team member would have been unthinkable. They trudged on for ten more days and then Tosh's sight began to fail. Snow blindness. Ianto short roped Tosh to him and they slowly made their way forward for two more days.

Another stormed started and they took refuge in new cave, so small they could barely sit up.

"How much food is left," Tosh asked.

"I think we should be fine for another week or so." Truth was, Ianto hadn't eaten for two days.

"I may be blind, but I know there's less than that left."

"Well maybe a bit less, then, let's say a week."

Tosh doubted the answer but decided to keep silent.

"We're not going to survive, are we?" Tosh asked a bit later.

"Well, I wouldn't say that, just..uh…no, probably not," Ianto admitted.

"Let's just stay here, Ianto. Finish the supplies and then let the cold take us."

"Okay," Ianto whispered.

He lay next to her in the sleeping bag that night listening to her breathing. What would happen when the food ran out? She was blind now. If he died first she would die alone and helpless. He slipped an arm out of the bag and reached for his duffle. It held all their remaining supplies. He snorted as he saw that there were about a day or so of rations if they both ate. Time to get busy then.

Tosh awoke to Ianto's voice. "I've used the last of the fuel to melt some snow and made us a drink with some protein powder," he said handing her a cup. She drank the fluid down quickly.

"How much retcon was in there, Ianto?" Enough to kill?

"I hope so," Ianto admitted.

"What did you use on the others."

"Gwen was so near death, that the tea was enough."

Tosh turned toward him in shock.

"The first bag was fine, but the second bag had been tampered with. It seems someone didn't want us to come back."

"What?"

"Remember that night we all got sick a few days into the mission. We couldn't find any decent tea in Shimla, so I dug out one of our bags and made us tea in my hotel room? After everyone got sick, I took a closer look at it, and a closer smell. There was the distinct odor of almonds."

"Cyanide," Tosh said.

"Yep. Surprised she held on as long as she did. I didn't want her to suffer, but I think I may have ended up making her worse. Should have known that anyone who could break through retcon the way she did would have a very strong will to survive."

"And Owen."

"Not enough tea to kill, and I was saving the retcon for you. So I waited until you were asleep and then took him outside, pointed him away from the tent and told him that Gwen was calling for him. He wandered off to find her. He'll be dead by now. I don't think he suffered."

Tosh was getting sleepy and it was hard for her to think. "You wrote the note. Always so good at covering our tracks, I should have known. But what about you? Do you have enough retcon left for you?"

"Unfortunately no, but I do have a gun. And when you are gone, I'll use it one last time."

"Oh Ianto, I'm so sorry." Wasn't that just like Ianto, always making sure that everyone else got taken care of. Of course he'd save the hardest death for himself.

"So you don't have to worry, just go to sleep."

"Rub my feet then," she asked, and Ianto did. "That feels so good, Ianto, thank you," she said as she drifted off wondering why she had never seen the gun Ianto mentioned.

Three days later, Ianto sat in the cave waiting for the end. It was clear that someone wanted them out of the way, but whom? Saxon, most likely, but why? Nothing made any sense, but it didn't matter. Hypothermia would take him long before starvation would.

He should have brought his gun, but at the last moment, he left it behind. What would there be to kill in the Himalayas, he had reasoned. For the first and last time in his life, Ianto had to admit that he didn't know everything.


	2. Avalanche

**Avalanche  
Originally posted at ****torchwood_fest**** on LJ Prompt: Free Space - Dreams  
**

**Summary: **Time resets following TYTNW, but the team members are behaving strangely. Second of four related stories about the Team during/after TYTNW.

* * *

She lay awake for the fourth night in a row. Something wasn't right, but she didn't know how to explain it. Ever since Prime Minister Saxon killed the President of the United…no that was a dream, wasn't it?

She sighed, got out of bed and went to plug in the kettle for tea. The clock on the kitchen wall read two in the morning.

"Couldn't sleep?" Rhys asked as he stepped into the kitchen.

Gwen shook her head. "It's that dream again. The one where the Team is lost in a snowstorm in the mountains."

Rhys nodded sympathetically and handed her the funny monster mug Ianto had given her on Valentine's Day. Looking at the tea, Gwen felt queasy and handed it back to Rhys. "Go on, you drink it. My stomach is too upset."

"Well, I know just the thing for that." He pulled out a small pot and began to heat some milk. "Hot cocoa, just the thing to scare away the frights."

She smiled as Rhys handed her a new mug. She drank the cocoa thinking how good it felt to be warm again. No that wasn't right either, she thought, shaking her head, she hadn't been cold at all.

"What's wrong," Rhys asked.

"That dream is so real it's bleeding into my waking thoughts. I just thought that I had been cold but that's not possible."

Rhys sat beside her and put his hands over hers holding the mug. "You're hands are warm."

"I know," she said exasperated, not at him but at the tricks her mind was playing.

"But your feet are like ice," Rhys said as he reached down and touched them.

Gwen startled and jerked her feet away from him. Her arms moved instinctively to push him away, knocking over her drink. Cocoa spilled over her nightgown and onto the floor. She stood and picked up the mostly empty mug and began to cry. "I'm losing my mind, I swear I am."

Rhys rose and put his arms around her. "Shh, you're just over-worked and stressed. You should call in sick tomorrow. "

"I can't. Tosh's been sick for a week. She was never sick a day since I've known her. Now she's got the chills all the time and her tea is making her feel sick.

"Maybe you're catching what Tosh's got…"

"No," Gwen interrupted, "Tosh's pretty sure it's due to a bad batch of tea. Ianto and she had a row over it as he orders a special green tea just for her and he says its fine. She went so far as to have Owen test her tea to make sure it was okay. Ianto was really upset by that. I'm not sure if he was more angry or hurt but they haven't spoken to each other for several days."

"And Ianto, he seems to go off into a trance watching Tosh or Owen or myself with the saddest expression on his face. That's really odd after that declaration Jack made to Ianto that I told you about. 'I came back for you,'" Gwen said, doing a fair impression of Jack's voice. "You'd think he'd be happy."

"And Owen?" Rhys asked.

"Owen seems much the same. Once a bastard, always a bastard. He did tell everyone that he was never drinking tea again, which is very peculiar since he's never liked tea. And he's constantly looking for me, like he thinks I'm going to get lost or something."

Gwen continued to describe the behavior of the team since Jack's return. It seemed like every one was a little off balance.

"Bet everyone got used to the way you led the team and now having to adjust back to Jack's methods has everyone feeling uneasy."

That made sense to Gwen. She was very disciplined when she took over team leadership and Jack was even more flippant than he had been before he left. If he wasn't being glib and telling filthy jokes, then he was hiding in his office brooding. So really, now they were leaderless.

"Look at the time," Rhys said, interrupting her musings.

"It's almost six," Gwen said groaning. "Not worth going back to sleep for an hour; might as well get an early start at work. Maybe I'll be able to get off early today." She got up and began to head back to bedroom.

"I'll tell you what. You call me if it looks like you will and I'll make lasagna."

Gwen felt her stomach lurch. "How about we go out for dinner tonight? That way we can both relax."

Rhys felt a little hurt but could see that Gwen really didn't look well. "Sure love, if that's what you want. I was just sort of hoping that maybe a nice dinner and a long soak in a bubble bath would help. And I could rub your feet," he offered, knowing how much she loved when he did that.

Gwen's eyes got huge and she shook her head 'no.' Covering her mouth she ran as fast as she could to the bathroom.

Rhys could only watch in dismay. _"I don't know what the hell is going on,"_ he thought, _"but this is really starting to worry me. Bloody Torchwood."_


	3. Mountain Madness

**Mountain Madness**

Originally written for **torchwood_fest**** Bingo/Prompt/Exchange On LJ: Bingo  
Prompt: Illness**

* * *

The third time Tosh turned as green as the tea Ianto served her, Owen had seen enough.

"Medical bay, now," he ordered.

"What? I feel fine. I just have lost my taste for tea recently."

Owen didn't believe her for a minute. "You had that same tea from the day I met you. Three in the afternoon, barring an alien invasion, you have that Gyokura green tea of yours. So what's going on? Because I have to tell you that you are seriously pissing off Ianto. Not that I care about that, but it's affecting his coffee making skills."

She smiled. At least Owen was being honest. "Maybe it's a bad batch," she replied. "It doesn't smell right for one thing."

"Yeah? How's that?" Now if something was wrong with Tosh's sense of smell, that was something he could work with.

"It smells bitter, almost like almonds."

"I wonder if Ianto isn't being a bit careless with the washing up," Owen said. "He has been buying Gwen her favorite hazelnut flavored coffee the last few weeks. Maybe the flavor is somehow getting transferred to your infuser."

Tosh shrugged. Owen's voice was making her head hurt and she felt cold, really cold.

"Whoa," Owen said grabbing her as she swayed on her feet. "You don't look well at all."

"I feel cold Owen, chilled to the bone."

Owen ordered her to undergo a full exam and reluctantly Tosh agreed. He ran every test he could think of and used the Bekaran scanner to see if she was exhibiting any deep tissue damage. Every test came up negative. She had told him that she'd been having chills for a few weeks, starting shortly after Jack returned, but absent any concrete diagnosis, he had no choice to let her return to work .

As he came up the stairs from the medical bay, Owen mused that it was all very odd. Not only was Tosh having chills, but Gwen had complained of her feet being cold as well_. "And where is she,"_ Owen thought as he frantically looked around the Hub. He felt relieved when he spotted her coming out of Jack's office. He was surprised to see how exhausted she looked. _"She's obviously not sleeping well either," _he realized.

He stopped suddenly. This was the fifth time today that he had felt panicked when he momentarily couldn't locate Gwen. "Get a grip," he muttered. Their affair was long over so there was no reason for him to be concerned about her whereabouts in the Hub. Yet every time he came up from the medical bay, he found himself compulsively looking around to find her.

"Something wrong?" Owen jumped, not having noticed Ianto coming to stand beside him.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you had some sort of cloaking device, the way you appear out of thin air."

"Yes, it's part of my secret ninja archivist skills," Ianto snarked. "As you've had occasion to remark, I did score at the top of my class in the 'sneaky bastard' category. Now where did Gwen go off to," Ianto remarked looking around.

Owen felt his heart begin to race. "Is she hurt," he asked frantically.

Ianto eyes narrowed as he stared at Owen. "Why would she be hurt? She just came out of Jack's office a few minutes ago and I thought a nice mug of cocoa for her would be nice. She's been having a problem with cold feet lately."

Owen continued to scan the main area of the Hub looking for Gwen. He felt his whole body relax when he saw her coming up the stairs, presumably from the loo.

"I don't want to intrude, but are you and Gwen at it again?"

Owen's attention turned to Ianto. "What? Are you daft? That's been over for months."

"I see," Ianto said, the expression on his face deliberately neutral. "It just seems that you are very concerned about Gwen's whereabouts lately."

"Rubbish, absolute rubbish," Owen retorted though he knew Ianto was right. But so what. He reckoned that as the team medic it was his responsibility to keep an eye on the health of his co-workers.

Later that night, out cruising at a local pub, he got struck with the urge to call Gwen. He couldn't explain it, but he had to make sure she was okay. Dialing her mobile, he was surprised when it was answered by Rhys.

"She can't talk to you right now, she's, uh, a bit busy," Rhys told him. The concern in his voice was obvious.

"Rhys is everything okay," Owen asked. When Rhys didn't respond, Owen continued, "it's the strangest thing, but I just had a feeling that she was in trouble. I'm sorry for intruding." He went to end the call, but was stopped by Rhys.

"Wait! Don't hang up," Rhys said lowering his voice. "She'll kill me if she finds out I told you, but she's really not well at all. Having nightmares, and getting queasy and her feet are cold all the time."

"Could she be pregnant?" Owen was a bit embarrassed to ask, but he if she was, he had to know.

"First thing we thought of," Rhys replied. "She's taken at least two home pregnancy tests over the last few weeks and they are negative. So no, that doesn't seem to be the cause."

"Well I'll have a look at her..."

"Look mate," Rhys interrupted, "I told you she doesn't want anyone to know. So don't go talking to her about this tomorrow. Besides, it's not like she's the only one who is acting strange, you know. Tosh is cold too. And, I don't want to be rude but she says you are constantly looking for her and its giving her the creeps."

"Yeah well, that's cause I'm her medic," Owen said defensively. He heard Rhys huff with irritation. "Don't worry, I won't single her out. It looks like this is a team issue and not related to any one member of the team."

"Yeah, well if you can fix this, I'd be grateful," Rhys said quickly and then hung up. Owen smiled. He could hear Gwen calling Rhys' name right before the call ended.

Owen was convinced that something very serious was happening to the team. Trouble was, he had no idea what it was. But everyone was affected. Tosh and Gwen feeling cold and queasy, that could be a virus. But now Ianto was acting sad and well, almost like he was guilty of doing something terrible.

_"Damn him,"_ Owen thought, _"if he's hiding another dangerous alien in the Hub, I'll kill him myself." _

His own behavior was strange as well. He thought he was over Gwen. Was he having regrets now that she was sporting an engagement ring? He snorted. Now that was daft. It was fun while it lasted, but she wasn't the first co-worker he'd shagged, and he suspected she wouldn't be the last.

And Jack of course. He was practically giddy when he was with everyone, but Owen had walked into Jack's office after everyone else had gone home one evening and seen him in tears, looking grief stricken as he stared at a picture of the team.

Owen was completely baffled. But since everyone's symptoms began not long after Jack returned, that's where he would start.


	4. Ghosts of a Forgotten Past

**Ghosts of a Forgotten Past  
Originally posted at ****torchwood_fest**** For Bingo/Prompt/Exchange on LJ: Bingo  
Prompt: Ghosts**

* * *

Owen had thought a lot about the strange symptoms he and his teammates had been exhibiting. Tosh and Gwen had complained of not feeling well and being cold. He seemed to have developed a fixation on Gwen and a pronounced dislike for tea. Not that he ever liked tea, but he couldn't even stand the sight of the canister that Ianto stored Tosh's special blend in. And Ianto, he seemed so sad, and guilty just like he has after the cyberwoman had been discovered.

Somehow these behaviors were all related. Owen was sure of it. He had eliminated any virus or other infection from consideration. After testing Tosh and not finding anything, he ran the same test on himself with the same results. Nothing was physically wrong with either of them.

He wondered if it might be some type of group hysteria. There were numerous cases reported in medical journals of groups of people exhibiting physical or emotional symptoms that had been linked to a common traumatic event. But while Jack leaving and then suddenly reappearing was unsettling, he didn't reckon that anyone except maybe Ianto would find that traumatic.

Owen snickered. The look of shock on Ianto's face when Jack made that 'I came back for you' declaration was priceless. Like a deer caught in headlamps. It wasn't often that the tea-boy got caught up short.

The only common element he could see to everyone's different symptoms was Jack. Jack came back, they all started behaving unusually. Maybe Jack had brought some new infectious agent with him from 'his Doctor.' Owen didn't have a clue, but he knew it was time to have a talk with Jack.

The next day everyone was behaving much the same. Ianto spent most of the day hiding in the archives and avoiding the team, especially Tosh. Tosh was drinking Tesco brand orange soda, and Gwen was wearing a heavy coat and gloves. Jack would occasionally leave his office and walk around just looking at each member of the team in turn.

Lunch was worst of all. They ate in total silence, while both Jack and Ianto looked like they were going to start crying any moment. He thought to tease Ianto to ease the tension, but he never seen Ianto look so fragile. Not after Lisa was killed (then he was defiant as hell), not after the cannibals (he was so stoic that Owen almost missed how bruised and beaten he really was), not even after Jack left.

"Alright, I was going to wait to talk to Jack privately, but something very strange is going on and as the medic around here, I think we need to sort this out."

The others glanced at each other uncomfortably, except for Jack who seemed to be lost in thought.

"So, can we at least acknowledge that we are all acting a bit strangely the last week or so?"

In retrospect, Owen had to admit that he hadn't really approached the problem as diplomatically as he could have. Everyone denied that anything strange was going on, and began to bicker.

"So I've decided I don't like tea anymore, I don't see how that's any concern of yours, Owen," Tosh said defensively.

"Well, when you accuse me of poisoning your tea, that kind of delusional thinking is certainly Owen's concern," Ianto spat back.

"Your tea has always turned my stomach," Gwen added.

"What? You've never even drank my tea," Tosh replied.

"I did so," Gwen retorted. "I drank so much of that tea and I couldn't get warm."

"I only gave it to you because you were dying," Ianto blurted out, his voice stumbling over the last part of the sentence.

"Just listen to Ianto," Tosh said, "if anyone is delusional, it's him."

Jack had been sitting quietly during the argument, lost in his own thoughts. The last exchange, however, caught his attention. There was something terrifyingly familiar about what Ianto had said. Something the Master had taunted him with during his long year of torture. "Ianto, what did you say?" he asked.

"I didn't say anything."

Gwen didn't know whether to be angry or frightened. "You did so, and I'm not dying."

Tosh burst into tears.

"I think we're all going bonkers," Owen said in frustration. "Something is affecting the whole team, and everyone seems in denial. Cold feet, tea, getting lost; they all have something in common.

Jack spoke. "The Himalayas. I've not being paying enough attention to what's been going on here. Owen is right. You've all been through something together, something traumatic, but you shouldn't even know about it."

"Did you retcon us?" Owen asked suspiciously.

"I wish. We've talked before about parallel timelines. Those are real. What I don't think we've ever discussed is time being reset. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes events in the future prevent events in the past from ever happening."

"How can that be?" Tosh asked. If it could, people could take knowledge from the future and then change the past to their advantage.

"You've all seen that people can fall through the rift from the past or the future. Thousands of years from now, traveling through time, through a type of rift will become possible. It will start out as a curiosity, but it doesn't take long for people to do exactly what Tosh has suggested."

"So history could change? Like Hitler never being born?" Gwen asked.

Jack nodded. "Or Hitler winning."

"But if the past was changed, you'd never know it existed." Ianto said. "All we know is the reality we live in, right?"

"That's how it should work," Jack agreed. "But sometimes if the events that are changed are large enough and the effects are immediate, those closest to the events will carry the memories of the event…"

"..that never happened," Tosh said finishing Jack's thoughts.

"Exactly."

With sudden clarity Owen understood. "So you are saying that something bad happened to all of us, and somehow time was reset, and we shouldn't remember, and we don't, except for little bits and pieces."

Jack nodded. "And it's not just because it happened to all of you, but that the whole universe was affected that makes the echo of the events so strong."

Jack didn't tell them everything that had happened, just enough to help them to understand about time resetting. He couldn't talk about what had transpired on the Valiant in any detail, it was too raw and painful, and they didn't need to know how great a burden he was carrying. Not just of his own physical deaths, but the Master's pleasure at telling him about the mission he sent the team on, how they failed and how they all died while Jack was helpless to aid them.

No one asked, but the team understood that Jack had been near the center of the storm and was carrying many terrible memories. What he had told them, from the enslavement of mankind, to the destructions of numerous planets and the glee of the Master as the universe was brought under his control, was horrible enough.

Ianto felt a wave a nausea wash over him as he began to realize that so much of what he had been dreaming lately might have actually happened. "I've been having some terrible nightmares. Are they real?"

"They might have been, but remember you don't have the context for them."

"I have as well," Gwen whispered. "Horrible dreams of being lost in a snowstorm."

"That's called ghosting. The echoes of the past leave an imprint on the brain. You're brain doesn't know what to do with the information so it plays it over and over trying to figure out what to do with information that doesn't fit with your current time construct."

"Will it ever stop?" Gwen asked.

"I'm hoping that since now you have some context it will. You will each keep track of your symptoms and report their frequency to Owen on a weekly basis. He will monitor our progress and inform us as to whether they are decreasing overall. We'll see how it goes."

Silently Jack added, _"And I'll be reinforcing my mental shields now, so my memories of your mission aren't bleeding over into your consciousnesses. That should get the problem under control."_

Owen had been thinking the whole idea of ghosting through. "You know, when I was a teen I had a year where I had these horrible nightmares. Every night, the same dream. People and places I didn't recognize," Owen said. "As hard as I tried, I could never make any sense of them. They did stop eventually, but once in a while, a memory from them seems to pop into my brain without warning. Is that the same thing?"

"It could be. Ghosting is fairly common. In the future there's an agency that was created to prevent people from changing the timelines. But despite their best efforts to prevent changes in the first place, sometimes all they could do was reset the timeline back on track as best they could." Trace memories are always created when time is reset."

"What? So there's a Time Police or something in the future running around fixing time and giving everyone weird dreams?" Ianto snarked.

"Pretty much."

"Oi, here's a thought. How do the Time Police know if they haven't been successful?" Owen said. He smiled and continued, "They don't, 'cause they never existed."

Tosh wasn't confused very often, but this whole time reset concept was playing havoc with her very orderly brain. "But if they never existed, then how could they go back in time…"

"It's a joke, Tosh, just a joke," Owen said rolling his eyes.

"But seriously, I can't figure out how the whole Time Police thing can work."

Jack smiled. Ianto noticed that Jack looked a bit smug and amused. "It's complicated."

"I'll bet," Ianto said.

"_You have no idea," _Jack thought_. "And if I have my way, you never will."_

Owen sighed. "So much for a little humor to lighten the mood."

"Funny thing," Tosh said smiling and shaking her head in bewilderment, "I'm in the mood for a cup of tea."


End file.
